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Washington University in St. Louis News & Information > News Topics > Culture & Living > War / Terrorism > Homeland and International Security >

Bioterrorism

Bioterrorism is the use of biological agents, such as anthrax, ricin or small pox as weapons.
| Faculty Experts: |
Showing 4 Bioterrorism Experts.
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Ronald S. Indeck
 DAS Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering

Indeck earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. His research involves magnetic and optical components and systems, especially in the areas of information technology and security. He is working with extremely high density magnetic recording systems, fast searching of massive databases, ...

Expertise: object verification, public surveillance, magnetic information storage systems, magnetism

Media assistance: (314) 935-5272 / tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu

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Pratim Biswas
 Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor

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| Biswas |
Biswas received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, has published extensively in his field and served on many international organizations and conferences. His research interests include aerosol science and engineering, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, materials ...

Expertise: aerosol science, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, material processing for environmental technologies, environmentally benign processing, environmental nanotechnology, …

Direct contact: (314) 935-5482
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pratim.biswas@seas.wustl.edu

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Samuel Stanley
 Director of the Midwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research

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Stanley directs the Midwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (MRCE), funded by a $35 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The center's mission is to support basic and translational research in critical areas ...

Expertise: biodefense, infectious diseases

Media assistance: (314) 935-5217 / joeangeles@wustl.edu

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Roy Curtiss
 Professor emeritus of biology in Arts & Sciences

Has developed a Salmonella-based oral vaccine for livestock that can free animals from the virulent strain of Salmonella that causes food-poisoning in humans. His vaccine has received FDA approval for swine and poultry and is on the market. Curtiss also has obtained patents for the use of transgenic ...

Expertise: Salmonella, food poisoning, FDA, vaccine, genetic engineering, microbial, pathogen, …

Direct contact: (314) 935-6819
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rcurtiss@wustl.edu

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Showing 4 Bioterrorism Experts.
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| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Bioterrorism Stories 1 through 3 of 6.
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Staying on top of poxviruses
 Poxvirus's ability to hide from the immune system may aid vaccine design

Nov. 15,
2007 -- The cowpox virus, a much milder cousin of the deadly smallpox virus, can keep infected host cells from warning the immune system that they have been compromised, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The scientists also showed that more virulent poxviruses, such as the strains of monkeypox prevalent in Central Africa, likely have the same ability.

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Research!America
 Samuel Stanley named global health research ambassador

July 11,
2007 --
Samuel Stanley, vice chancellor of research, has been named an Ambassador in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. Stanley is now one of 50 of the nation's foremost global health experts who have joined forces to increase awareness about the critical need for greater U.S. public and private investment in research to improve global health.

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New generation of hybrid filter
 Device traps, UV zaps pathogens

June 8,
2005 -- A team of engineers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Colorado at Boulder has removed bioaerosols - airborne biological particulate matter -- from the air of a hospital therapy pool using a new generation of hybrid filters. The bioaerosols identified in the unnamed Midwestern hospital pool had sickened nine lifeguards who had become ill with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, a lung condition that mimics pneumonia symptoms. This forced the pool to shut down. It is now reopened.

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Showing Bioterrorism Stories 1 through 3 of 6.
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Showing 5 Bioterrorism Clips.
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Scientists find potential weakness in plague germ
Scientific American
and 3 others

Jan. 26,
2007 -- The germ that caused the plague epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe has a weakness that could help make a particularly dangerous form easier to treat, according to a study published on Thursday.
There are periodic natural outbreaks of pneumonic plague like one that started in 2005 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There also is acute concern terrorists could harness the bacterium as an airborne germ warfare agent to spread pneumonic plague.
Writing in the journal Science, WUSTL scientists led by molecular microbiology professor William Goldman said experiments with mice showed that the onslaught of the bacterium slows markedly when the germ cannot use a key protein.

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Search for an E. coli defense
Los Angeles Times
and 1 others

Sept. 25,
2006 -- Part of the alarm over cases of E. coli poisoning, such as the current spinach-linked outbreak, has been the difficulty in treating the most severe cases -- when toxins produced by the bacterium cause kidney failure. But researchers have been working for two decades to learn more about the illness and now think they will eventually have ways to limit the damage.
WUSTL pediatrics professor Phillip Tarr comments. Tarr treated many of the children who fell ill in 1993 in the Pacific Northwest from E. coli poisoning involving contaminated, under-cooked meat.

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Officials consider spinach labeling plan
Associated Press
and 32 others

Sept. 22,
2006 -- Federal health officials said Thursday that more explicit labeling was just one proposal under consideration for allowing fresh spinach back on the market. Others include stepped-up regulation of how spinach is grown and processed.
WUSTL pediatrics gastroenterology professor Phillip Tarr describes the illness and what people should do if they think they have the illness.

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Gulf War study shows veterans prone to certain illnesses
Associated Press State & Local Wire, ScienceBlog.com, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
and 16 others

June 9,
2005 -- AP story on research led by WUSTL psychiatry and medicine professor Seth Eisen that compared the health of veterans who were deployed to the Persian Gulf region and veterans who served elsewhere. The study found that Gulf War veterans are more likely to have chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia syndrome. The study, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, appears in the June 7 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

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National Institutes of Health funds regional research center at Colorado State
Associated Press State & Local Wire
and 48 others

June 2,
2005 -- The NIH awarded a $40 million grant to Colorado State University for a regional center to fight animal-to-human diseases such as West Nile and hantavirus. The Rocky Mountain center will be one of 10 regional consortiums, including WUSTL, funded by the NIH to research threats from infectious diseases and bioterror agents.

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